1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an image correction apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for correcting an image including characters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) refers to a technique for searching a character region by analyzing an image and recognizing characters in the searched character region
Such an OCR technique, which is in the field of pattern recognition, enables a computer to directly perform pattern recognition without a user having to input characters through a keyboard, by automatically reading and recognizing printed characters or handwritten characters and converting them into computer comprehensible codes.
In this type of OCR technique, binarization and pre-processing operations are performed prior to an OCR operation. In other words, an image is converted into values of 0s and 1s through the binarization and pre-processing operations so that the image can be comprehensible to a computer during the OCR operation. For more accurate recognition of characters by a computer, a process for enhancing an image is required during the binarization and pre-processing operations. However, if binarization and pre-processing modules malfunction or have poor performance, the OCR operation cannot be properly performed even though an OCR engine is performing properly.
Thus, in a conventional OCR technique, an acquired image is simply converted into computer comprehensible values of 0s and 1s so that the computer can automatically read and recognize characters.
However, the conventional OCR technique has difficulty recognizing characters by analyzing or processing an image photographed in ambient lighting or a shaded environment, which may occur in a mobile environment. Hence, the OCR engine does not properly binarize and, thus, the performance of the OCR engine may deteriorate.
Furthermore, in the conventional OCR technique, characters which include shade cannot be recognized as a result of poor binarization, caused by the shade generated by ambient lighting.